Albemarle Sounds This portion of the Albemarle's total fishing 

 industry accounts for 35 percent of the poundage of fish landed 

 in the area. Many of the local fishermen have expressed the 

 belief that the sound fishing industry is declining and that 

 such things as water pollution, storms, and the increase of silt 

 from the rivers has had an adverse effect upon the industry. This 

 may be true in specific sections of the region or during certain 

 years. The fishing industry, worldwide, has been plagued with 

 lean years and fat years as well as changes in the location of 

 catches. Therefore, the Albemarle Area cannot expect to be any 

 different. However, if all these changes are averaged and the 

 statistics are shown over a long period of time, the fishing 

 industry appears to be increasing in the total poundage of its 

 catch. The following table shows the food fish catch of North 

 Carolina for specific years from 1890 to 1964, These figures 

 include all shellfish but exclude the menhaden catch. Menhaden 

 are used for agricultural and industrial purposes, and are not 

 caught in very large quantities by fishermen of the Albemarle 

 Area . 



TABLE 2, NORTH CAROLINA FOOD FISH CATCHES - 1890-1964 

 (Millions of Pounds) 



1890 1902 1908 1918 1930 1940 1950 1964 

 35.34 40,00 35.00 25o6 34,00 36,30 47,90 54,39 



Thus, it may be assumed that the Albemarle Area's catch has changed 

 in accordance with the state as a whole and we can assume that its 

 total food fish catch has actually increased over the past 46 years. 



The Albemarle Sound fishing industry has not only increased 

 in recent years but its methods of catching the fish have undergone 

 some changes. For the first time in many years, there were no 

 purse seines used for striped bass, since gill nets and pound nets 

 have become the common method of hauling in the catches. The 



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